Can I get a lawyer for a bond hearing in Maryland?

Kush Arora: You should always have counsel at a bond review hearing. A bond review hearing usually takes place almost immediately after you are arrested. It is an opportunity for a judge to preside over your case and determine whether or not a bond should be issued on your case, whether or not that bond should be lowered or increased, and what conditions might be attached to the bond if you were in fact released and were able to post it in some capacity. These are the things that a judge presiding over a case would be determining. If a judge is presiding over a case and reviewing somebody’s bond immediately after the arrest, some of the things that the judge wants to understand are the individual’s ties to the community, whether they are employed, what kind of criminal history they have, whether they have any mental health issues, and whether or not they are flight risk, a risk to themselves, or a risk to any other members of the community in terms of physical violence or threats.

Having an attorney by your side at a bond review hearing gives the court an opportunity to learn more about an individual who has been arrested. These things are usually presented to the judge in such a way that the judge is prepared to understand exactly what the reasons are for somebody’s bond to potentially be lowered or for a person to be released on their own accord based on the representations that are made by an attorney at that hearing. Having somebody represent you at a bond review hearing can be extremely helpful in making sure that the court issues an appropriate bond and gets to know enough about the defendant to feel comfortable with issuing a bond that might make it easier to secure his or her release pending the trial date.